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Hi,
I have mac app in net 8 ready to publish.
I see this articlehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/mac-catalyst/deployment/?view=net-maui-8.0
and i don't want which option to use.
I do not want to upload it to app store.
Which one to use ?
Thanks.
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you probably want outside the store option:
you could do unsigned, but this is getting harder for users to install (even more steps in next O/S). but will work for advanced users.
note: ad-hoc is designed for deploying to test users.
Why unsigned option is hard for user to install ?
apple discourages installation of unsigned applications. after the user downloads the app and tries to run it they will get an error message saying. "<appname> can not be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store". they must then go into system settings -> privacy and security and enable the app to open. most users will not know about this feature. their other option is the command line:
%sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/xyz.app
note: on older O/S you can right click to allow Gatekeeper to open, but this feature is removed in the next O/S. even if signed, the user may enable signed downloads.
What about outside the app store option?
it depends on how advanced your users are. you can host a website, with a download of the app. after downloading the user would need to copy from the download folder to a know spot. a more common approach is to create an installer (which must be signed) that when run from the download folder will install the app.
here are the Apple instructions for users who download an app not from the store.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102445
note: general users probably can only install App Store applications. Only advanced users can install an app hosted outside the store. Developers typically enable downloads from "App Store and identified developers", because they download so many tools. but few would install an unsigned app. typically for unsigned, you would download the source and build.
this is true for all native MacOs apps, not just Catalyst apps that run in a sandbox.
Hi Bruce,
If i publish unsigned and i moved the publish folder to another computer, do I need the
net run time for mac?
Depends on if you used the self contained option which includes the runtime. Also typically for macOS you would build as single file, so that it is a standard macOS app.
unlike windows, on macOS a single file app is run as is. On windows it’s expanded to a temp folder.
How do I contain the self contain option ?
I believe you are publishing a Maui app, so it's an IOS build and does not use a .net runtime as it compiled to native. It is also default to single file.
Ok I will check.
It works without runtime 8.